The ultimate battle
by JP0503
Summary: Twelve heros and twelve villians from different worlds including anime, video game and comic have been chosen to fight the greatest battle ever of good versus evil. Zelda, DC, Marvel, Metroid, Inuyasha, Warcraft, Starcraft, Soul calibur, Werewolf the apoc
1. Heroes VS villains

From the most twisted reaches of my mind comes the idea of a crossover story. It's got mainly video game characters, but also comic and anime, all my favorites in the same fanfic.

But why would so many characters from so many different universes that have no link whatsoever with one another come together? Why they all have a point in common, where they come from, they are active fighter in a fight between good and evil. As such, for every hero there is also one of his personal nemesis, in a giant clash of good vs evil.

No how exactly would video game, comic and anime character come together… Well this is fanfiction, they do because I said they do and I think it can make an interesting story. It is however mostly inspired by the animated spiderman series finale where spiderman has to lead marvel superheros against marvel supervillain in a clash of good and evil. Only in my story, it's not just the marvel universe.

So anyway, the hero's cast, along with their opponents, is as follow

Link-Ganondorf (Zelda ocarina of time)

Samus Aran-Ridley (Metroid Prime)

Talim-Nightmare (soul calibur 2)

Terra-Kefka (final fantasy 6)

Jaina-Arthas (warcraft 3)

Zerathul-Kerrigan (starcraft)

Spiderman-Carnage (the spiderman animated series (I didn't read the comics))

Rogue-Mystic (X-men evolution)

Superman-Lex Luthor (justice league (again, I'm not much into comics))

Batman-Scarecrow (justice league (thought I saw Scarecrow in the animated series))

Inuyasha-Naraku (Inuyasha a feudal fairy tale)

Jonas Albrecht-Zyzack (werewolf the apocalypse)

I, of course, do not own any of this.

Lying in the grass on Lake Hylia's shore, Link was slowly lulling into sleep, not even caring that his fishing rod, anchored in the ground next to him was twitching, indicating a catch. Why bother, this was the first free time he'd have since banishing Ganon to the dark realm, it was a bright and sunny day and he didn't feel like struggling anymore, even with a fish.

Suddenly, he felt a slight change in the air; the light breeze seemed to have gained in speed at an abnormal rate. Link wasn't the kind to make a mess out of a small weather change, but he had used enough magic in his life to recognize it at work…

He stood up, grabbed the hilt of the master sword and looked around for whatever was manipulating the elements, but he never found out. He rose in the air, span around for a few seconds and then, everything went black as he vanished into thin air.

Unknown to him, the very same thing was happening to another person in Hyrule, deep in the realm of shadow; a brooding wizard felt the very same pull. Ganondorf's embraced whatever magic was pulling him out of this forsaken prison and vanished from the realm of shadow, along with the triforce of power…

When he woke up, he was in a strange room, apparently made entirely from metal. There was a table with several comfy looking chairs in the middle, two large double doors at each end and several large devices with glass panels that glowed and had text and images on it.

If Link found the room strange, it was nothing compare to the people that occupied it. Eleven other people, each of who he had never seen before, where standing around with a confused look on their faces.

One was a person dressed from head to toes in a large, orange metal armor, the right arm replaced with a gray tube that seemed like a weapon, guessing on the way the person was holding it up.

Next was a small girl who couldn't be more than sixteen years old, she had shoulder length black hair and tan skin. She was wearing a green top, white short and was wielding two elbow blades.

Then was a creepy looking man in a black suit, he had a mask with two small hear that gave him the look of a bat, a flowing black cape and a symbol on his chest that was also that of a bat. Only his eyes could be seen from the shadow where he had slowly skulked, and they were scary eyes, they chilled Link to the bone.

In contrast to the dark figure next to him, the tall man in blue and red was all but stubble. He was very broad shouldered, black hair and he was wearing a red cape over a blue suit with a large yellow S on the front.

Another man was dressed in red and blue, only he was much smaller. He had a full head mask that hid his eyes behind two large white spots and there where spider web pattern over his suit.

On this guy's left was a teenage girl with brown hairs with a white cowlick and who had a sour look on her face. She was wearing a black and green suit with yellow X marked pad on her shoulders.

A woman who looked a little older was next; she had flowing green hair and pale skin. She was wearing a red dress and she had a sword sheathed at her side. Link could sense that magic was strong in this woman, unlike the others so far.

The next person was…not human to Link's knowledge. The gangly humanoid wrapped in weather beaten cloak had a very strange head, no mouth or nose, only glowing eyes on his scaly head. One of his three fingered hand was wielding a device that expelled a glowing green blade.

Another magically attuned woman stood next, with blond hair showing from under a hooded blue cloak. She was carrying a gem tipped staff and was wearing white top and pants under her cloak.

Then was a young man wearing a red kimono and a beaded necklace. He had flowing silver hair down to his ankle, claws at the end of his fingertips, yellow eyes, doglike ears and had a katana sheath at his side, his hand on the hilt.

Last was an imposing man with something about him that made Link uneasy. He had a patch on his left eye and was wearing fur bracer and belt, along with a blue pang and metal shoulder pads. He had a long sliver sword in hand and seemed ready to lash out at anyone.

This peculiar crowd eyes each other for a moment, each one as confused as the next, not daring to make the first move. Some, like the man with the patch, the guy in orange armor and the one in red kimono seemed ready for a fight. Link himself wondered if he should not maybe grab the hilt of the master sword before it was too late. Before he could do anything however, a voice resonated in his head, and judging by everyone's reaction, in theirs heads as well.

"At ease friends, no one here wishes the other any ill, we have all been pulled from our respective location and none knows how we made it here. I am Zeratul, prelate of the protoss dark templar; I believe it would do well to everyone to introduce himself, so that then we can find out where we are, and why."

Link stepped in first: "Well…my name his Link, and where I'm from, I'm known as the hero of time."

"I'm Talim, a priestess of the wind…please to meet you all." The small girl said in a shy voice, bowing slightly.

The person in armor putted down her weapon and removed her helmet, under which was a woman's head with blond hair: "The name's Samus Aran, intergalactic bounty hunter."

A voice spoke from the shadow: "You can call me Batman."

"And I'm Superman, Leader of the justice league." The guy with the large S on his costume said.

"Protoss, wind priestess, hero of time, intergalactic bounty hunter, why do I have the feeling I'm not in my own world anymore, that, and a crippling case of déjà vu. Anyway, I'm Peter Parker, better known a Spiderman where I come from." The smaller man in blue and red said.

The woman with the blue cloak stepped forth: "I am Jaina Proudmoore, sorceress and leader of the alliance, not that I seem to be anywhere close to alliance ground."

"I'm…this is all too weird, I'm called Rogue…" the teenage girl said.

The tall man with the eye patch stepped forth: "I am Jonas Albrecht of the Silver fangs, King of the garou nation."

"My name is Terra…" the woman with green hair whispered.

The boy with dog ears sniffed the air around as if trying to figure out what was going on… "The name's Inuyasha, now, if the presentation are over, someone's better start telling me what's going on here."

"Maybe I can answer that!" a voice shot out from the middle of the room.

A glowing sphere was hovering in the middle of the table; it seemed to be what was talking. The twelve gathered stepped forth around it.

"You have all been gathered here from your respective world to come here, on this specially created battle ground to fight the greatest of all battles, together, no mister Albrecht, it is not the apocalypse your kind had foreseen, this battle is the greatest struggle in all worlds, the one of good versus evil."

"I was doing a pretty good evil vanquishing job _before _you warped me here." Inuyasha said.

"Naraku may well be the greatest evil in your world, Inuyasha, but it his as a collective ideal that evil gains power, thus why you are here, along with your greatest foes." The sphere replied.

This was followed by several name shouted, most of which Link had never heard of, as for him, he grimly tough back of Ganondorf.

"The computer in this room contain all the information you need, I believe Mister Parker and Mister Wayne here knows a lot about them, you should do fine. You must learn to work with each other in order to overcome your greatest trial yet. Good luck now, for good to prevail in all your worlds." And on that, the sphere vanished.

Meanwhile, on the other hand of the flat plane on which all the hero had been transported, another similar complex was greeting a much darker assembly…

Ganondorf, like his archenemy, had also woken up surrounded by eleven strangers. Unlike the hero of time however, the king of evil was not one to simply stand idle and wait for one of them to make the first move, he drew his twin gerudo blades, levitated in the air and got ready to strike.

He wasn't the only one, a twisted red an black humanoid seemingly with no fixed shape other than white spot as eyes and a gaping toothy maw was also about to leap at the nearest throat.

The nearest throat was that of a towering reptilian creature with large membranous wings, a pterodactyl head and a large bladed tail. The creature was patched with several metal plates and seemed every bit as aggressive as the monster Ganondorf had once resurrected, the dreaded Volvagia.

Seeming more amused than angry, a white skinned man dressed like a clown was laughing maniacally, a silly and annoying laugh Ganondorf wished he had never heard.

Two swordsmen had appeared next to each other and seemed ready to get it on, one in large blue armor from which a monstrous arm ended by a three digit clawed hand popped out. He was holding a large sword that seemed made from both metal and flesh, with a large eye tilting around near the hilt. The other was also clad in armor, his adorned with skull ornaments, and only long white hairs and glowing blue eyes were visible from under the crown like helmet he was wearing. His sword seemed made from solid ice, with a skull as the hilt.

A very large woman wearing very little aside from a metal corset and a leather skirt was growling at everyone, something about her unsettled even the stoic king of evil. Then again, maybe it was the large whip she was carrying…

The rest of the assembly made itself more discreet, maybe understanding how clearly outmatched they were. One of them seemed to be wearing a baboon fur cloak, only his mouth was visible, and Ganondorf could swear it was smirking.

Three others seemed to have backed down in the shadows; one was a perfectly normal, bald human with a green metal armor, another was a blue skinned woman wearing a single piece white dress and another was a skinny man wearing a scarecrow mask.

The last one seemed to look around with a self assurance Ganondorf had seen only in the eyes of Link before he struck him down, the eyes of someone who had never known defeat. The woman had greenish skin, strangely shaped exoskeleton armor, complete with the pattern of membranous wings, only without membrane and her hair seemed like solid spikes.

The twelve gathered were about to clash when a sphere appeared in the center of the room where they stood (which was identical to the one their enemies had appeared in). To their general surprise, it spoke: "Welcome all. Before you tear one another apart, you should all know why you are here. This plane on which you have been transported is to be the battleground for the ultimate battle of good versus evil. You are the greatest forces of evil from your respective worlds…the greatest we had the power to bring here that is, and it is now upon you that rest the task of wining the war of good and evil in your cause's favor. You would also like to know, I believe, that your opponent are your respective foes from your dimensions. The details are in the computers around you, Mister Luthor and Miss Kerrigan can surely operate them, and I will now be off."

And the light vanished.

"What the hell was that all about?" Ganondorf was the first one to speak.

"It would seem to me we are expected to team up, use the resources putted at our disposal and dispose of our enemies somewhere on this plane in order for evil to prevail in all our respective worlds, if I did understand that strange entity." The bald man said, "And if we are to be partners, let me introduce myself, I am Lex Luthor."

"I will certainly not frowned upon an opportunity to dispose of Inuyasha while he his without his friends, my name his Naraku, and I will assist in anyway I can." The man with the baboon skin said.

"Uhohohohohohoho, this sounds fun! I'm Kefka!" the clown said.

"I AM ZYZACH, CHOSEN OF GREEN DRAGON AND TRIBE LEADER OF THE BLACK SPIRAL DANCER, I CHALLENGE ANYONE TO DEFY MY LEADERSHIP OF THIS GROUP!" the tall woman said.

"Grrr, loud mouthed woman, if it's a fight you want, I'll take you on, I'm the space pirate lieutenant Ridley." The dragon like creature stepped forth, snarling.

"Enough!" a voice resonated in the eleven heads at once "There are twelve so called good guys on the other side, and they will destroy us if we thin our own number down. We have no advantage in tearing one another up in a struggle for power, Zyzach, Ridley, stand down. I'm Kerrigan by the way, the queen of blades."

Zyzach and Ridley snarled at each other but did not jump at each other's throat.

"While we're up for presentation, I am Ganondorf, the king of evil." The dark warlock said.

"Enough with the fancy titles, I am Carnage and I say we stop this nonsense, find Spiderman and KILL HIM! Then we can kill the other, then, then, I don't know, MORE KILLING!" the strange red and black creature was seething with energy.

"I can certainly enjoy that kind of zeal, if you also know restrain, my name his Arthas, I am known as the lich king." The white haired, armor clad man said.

"Me, I'm surprised and…strangely flattered to be considered a force of evil…I am known, simply, as Scarecrow." The thin man said.

"My name is Mystique, and I can't say I'm glad to be stuck here with you and all your egos, but since I have no other choice, let's try to make this work." The blue skinned woman said.

"I am Nightmare, wielder of soul edge, if it so happen that you are not my foes, show them to me so that I can feast on their souls."

"That all being said, you ladies and gentlemen should make yourselves comfortable while I search these machines for further details, please try to get along now, for surely our opponents will." Lex Luthor said.

Meanwhile, back at the good guy's base, Batman, Spiderman and Samus were searching the computer's data files for more information about their current situation. Those heroes less skilled with a keyboard all kept a pious silence as they either sat on the chairs or paced around the room.

It was Inuyasha, who had been resting against a wall, eyes closed, who first broke the silence by answering a rather personal question asked telepathically by the dark templar.

"Excuse me young sir, this may not be any of my business, but who is this Kagome person?"

The half-demon's faced turned red, briefly from blushing but quickly turning into anger.

"How do you know about Kagome?" he asked out loud suspiciously.

"We protoss communicate solely by telepathy, thus I can hear the surface though of each of you since you have no training in concealing them. Yours, about this Kagome are…louder, for lack of a better term." He explained to Inuyasha only.

"Well you were right, this ISN'T any of your business, now stay the hell out of my head, will ya!" he shouted from the corner.

Rogue, irritated by the half-demon's rants, intervened.

"What are you raving about dog-ears?"

"You stay out of this!" Inuyasha replied.

"Forgive me everyone, I should probably address everyone at once to avoid these circumstances…" the protoss apologized.

"Better still, you could shut up and leave everyone's private thoughts where they belong!" Inuyasha lashed back.

"There's…no need to get angry…he did apologize." Talim suggested shyly.

Rogue was also about to add something, but Talim's intervention seemed to cool everyone's spirit and the argument stopped there. Just in time for Spiderman's good news.

"I think I found what we were looking for, I've got a list of twelve names here, including one that unfortunately sounds familiar, it seems like Carnage is here too…"

"Who else?" Batman asked.

"Ganondorf…am I pronouncing this right?"

"Yes." Link answered, trying not to sound alarmed that his old enemy would soon be getting a rematch.

"Ridley…hey, I wait there are even images linked to each files…whoa, he's a big one…"

"Yeah, let me see…" Samus looked over Spidey's shoulder "…great, it's the phazon augmented one from talon IV, doesn't this guy ever die?"

"Next up we've got a creepy looking bald man by the name of Lex Luthor…"

"He's from my world, he doesn't look like much, but he's a genius." Superman said.

"And this is…ouch, who knows this handsome devil?" Spidey asked sarcastically showing the picture of the deformed wielder of soul edge.

"He's nightmare, I've…heard of him. He wields the soul stealing sword soul edge; in fact, he's much more a vessel of the sword's power than its owner." Talim said.

"Ok, next we got another freak with a creepy sword by the name of…"

Jaina saw the image appear but couldn't believe her eyes.

"Arthas…so it was true, he did join the scourge and become their leader…" a single tear flowed on her cheek.

"Oh…heu, sorry about that…next we got. Kefka…some sort of evil clown guy…" Spiderman continued.

"Kefka is surely as evil as he is insane, but do not underestimate him, he commands tremendous powers…" Terra warned.

"Ok and in the "doesn't look like much" category, who knows the scarecrow guy?"

"I do, he brings out the worse fear in people in order to accomplish his goals, and he could be very dangerous if anyone here has something that truly terrifies him or her." Batman said.

"This one has three images associated to it, some sort of floating baboon skin, the same baboon skin with a long haired guy and the same guy mounted on what is probably supposed to look like a spider body…name is…"

"Naraku!" Inuyasha completed with hatred in his tone.

"Now we get on with the female cast of villains starting with this blue skinned diva, Mystique's her name." Spidey said, trying to cheer everyone up.

"Her, a force of evil, Kurt would surely be protesting loudly right now…but I kinda agree." Rogue said.

"Next is Kerrigan, yuck, that's all I got to say."

"The queen of blades, at long last I will have my revenge; without her swarm to protect her, she will fall before my warp blade."

"And last but now least, this giant scary lady, wait, there are for more images…"

As Spiderman revealed the image of Zyzack's glabro, crinos, hispo and lupus form, several of the other heroes, including Albrecht, gasped at the sigh of the towering werewolf.

"Zyzack, I'd advise any of you against trying to engage her…" Jonas said.

"If the map of the plane I just found is accurate, their base is at a hundred and a half kilometers from hours..." Samus said, removing her arm cannon from a computer port "…on a side note, I'm surprise that these computers are compatible with my power suit…"

"I found detailed information about our base, it seem that aside from this room, the other main features include dormitories, like any of us could sleep in these circumstances, training rooms, warp engine, hangar, infirmary and defense outpost. The building is defended by both technological and magical defense system, just like the other. We'll have to take this fight to the fields between the bases; it's unlikely we can pierce the established defenses." Batman reported.

"I think we should all try to get some rest, if there is really no way they can strike at us in here, we'd better go out there at the top of our game." Link proposed.

"I doubt our foes will share your view, they wills surely want to attack as soon as possible." Jonas objected.

"Many of them do seem rash enough to employ this tactic, but there are some of them who favor brain over brawn, and they might restrain their comrades." Superman added.

"Now one can restrain Zyzack…"

"Then maybe we should take watch turn, so we can react if some of them come over, because they won't all come that's for sure, Mystique isn't the direct assault kind…" rogue said.

"Neither is Naraku." Inuyasha added.

But is was Batman who closed the arguments: "The defense grid will alert us if anything other than the twelve of us comes too close to the base, you can rest easy."

"And like Link said, we all should, we can't go get all sleepy in front of our enemies when the stakes is the victory of good in all worlds!" Spidey added.

On that, the twelve heroes went to the dormitories, some gruntingly, but none of them could deny he or she needed rest.

A similar scene took place at the bad guy's base. Only the situation was far from silent, mostly due to the snarling of Ridley and Zyzack who where circling one another while Luthor, Kerrigan and Mystique where searching the computers. Most others where spread out around the room, waiting for the werewolf and the space pirate to get it on.

Luthor interrupted what promised to be the start of a very violent clash.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you would please stop this nonsense, I have here the list of our opponent, including my old friend Superman…a shame I have no kryptonite with me…"

"I'll take it you have Link on your little list…" Ganondorf said.

"Yes, Link, that pointy eared kid dressed in green, _he_ thwarted your plans, king of evil?" Luthor said in a slightly mocking tone.

"Unless you wish such disrespect to be your last words, Luthor, you'd better watch your mouth, that kid may not look like much, but he wields several powerful magical items, including the evil banishing master sword and a third of the triforce!" Ganondorf replied in anger.

"A puny elf, I'll crush him like I did the rest of his kind, I'd like to see how that magical sword of his stand against Frostmourne." The lich king said quietly.

"Link is mine, undead; this is my opportunity for vengeance." Ganon warned.

Luthor interrupted: "King Arthas, it seems the opponent chosen for you is a quite charming young lady by the name of Jaina Proudmoore…"

"Jaina…" the Lich king muttered, memories of his former love resurfacing…

"What was that, the name brings back painful memories?" Kerrigan sneered?

Arthas seized the hilt of his sword and pointed the blade toward the queen of blades.

"Don't go there, or you'll regret it."

"Hit a little too close to home did I?" she kept on.

Again, Luthor stopped what would have been a vicious battle with a well placed interruption: "Oh, and you miss Kerrigan, it seems you have a quite singular creature as your opponent, Zerathul."

"The dark templar? HA! He is of no concern to me; an army of protoss couldn't defeat me. A single one won't stand in my way." She assured.

"What about me, who's in for me, it's Spiderman right, it has to be him, well it could be Venom, but no, not Venom, it must be Parker, Spiderman, is it him…" Carnage was jumping in place.

"Yes mister Carnage, your opponent is indeed Spiderman." Lex said, slightly irritated.

"YEAH!" the alien symbioses screamed, turning his mouth in a wicked grin.

"Which of the X-men was chosen to stand against me?" Mystique asked.

"Oh my, we'll have two kids against us; it seems yours is a teenager who calls herself Rogue."

"Of all of them, why did it have to be her?" she asked, more to herself than the others.

"My my, make that three kids, a young girl called Talim rings a bell to anyone?"

"To me, the wind priestess who swore to destroy me, let her try, I'll break her frail body and consume her soul…" Nightmare growled from under his helmet.

"I must say I like your style." Arthas smiled.

"Of course you do, it seems very similar to your own, death knight." Nightmare replied.

"Tell me, Mister Luthor, of the many people who wish my death where I come from, was it, as I though, Inuyasha who was chosen?" Naraku asked from the shadows, everyone had almost forgotten about him.

"The arrogant looking boy in a red kimono with dog ears…yes he's on the list."

"Perfect…" the half-demon simply said.

"Now, mmm, another lovely young woman, which of you has issues with Terra?"

"ME! The little half esper is here, ohohohoho, this is gonna be fun!" Kefka sneered.

"Please, would you please stop laughing" Mystique asked, irritated.

"ohoho, but if my laugh annoys you, please come here and shut me up!"

"I'll shut you up, clown!" Scarecrow stepped in between Mystique and Kefka, bearing his fear gas shooters.

"The rag doll wants to fight, ohohoho!"

"Mystique is right, that laugh of yours is annoying!" Scarecrow replied.

"Scarecrow, I trust you are interested in knowing that Batman is on this plane." Luthor interrupted.

"Yes, thanks, Lex." But Scarecrow's attention seemed more on Mystique's flirting smile than the fact that his archenemy was part of this conflict."

Meanwhile, Zyzack and Ridley where still staring each other down, Ridley was surprisingly not flinching from the sustained glare of the legendary werewolf.

"Oh please, would you two cut it out, aren't you remotely interested in knowing who your opponents are?" Lex said, bored by this little conflict.

"It's that hunter bitch, Samus Aran, who else." Ridley snarled.

"IT MATTERS NOT WHO STANDS IN MY WAY, THEY SHALL ALL BE CRUSHED!" Zyzack screamed.

"We're right here you know…we hear you when you just talk…" Kerrigan said, but Zyzack paid no heed to her.

"Well, as you guessed Ridley, your opponent is indeed a metal clad woman called Samus. As for you Zyzack, it seems to be a…why judging by these five pictures I'd say a werewolf, by the name of Jonas Albrecht." Luthor said, finishing the list.

"OF COURSE HE'S A WEREWOLF, JUST LIKE I AM, THAT WEAKLING WILL BE CRUSHED UNDER MY HEEL AS IT HAS BEEN FORETOLD!" the black spiral dancer replied.

"I see we are all, well most of us (he looked at Arthas and Mystique) are bursting with confidence. Well then, where do we go from here?"

"I found out a plan of the base and the surrounding area, we are several miles away from the enemy base and it seems we are equipped with high power magical and technological defense grid, training room, living quarter, supply bay, infirmary, warp room, whatever that does, training room and defense station. It seems we're expected to stay here for a while…" Kerrigan reported from her own research.

"It seems logical that, since this is meant to be a fight between good and evil, they have the same resources that we do, so tell me Kerrigan, could our actual defense be breached if all our enemies attacked at once?" Ganondorf asked.

"Unlikely, anything aside from us that come too close to this base would be localized and exterminated very quickly, all that without passing the energy shields…" she answered.

"So it is in the fields around the base that this war will be fought…these bases are meant as safe haven for us…interesting." Luthor commented.

"I don't know about you guys, but getting torn away from my reality and pitted in a fight of good versus evil without my consent has taken its toll on me, you said there were living quarters, I'm going there. I'll fight good guys tomorrow." Mystique said.

"I must say the realm of shadow as also weakened me, I could use the rest…" Ganon added.

"The dead, luckily, do not sleep." Arthas said.

"Well, obviously, the transport has drained all of us, and surely it has the others, we should all make sure we are at the top of our shape tomorrow, those who do not need to sleep, please don't go out alone to get mob stabbed by twelve good guys will you?" Lex said as he followed Mystique.

Most of the other evil figures did go to sleep, some quite unhappy to admit that they needed it. Zyzack and Ridley promised one another that they would settle their different once in for all first time tomorrow.

Only Arthas and Naraku remained, though the demon was quite silent and Arthas wasn't in the mood to talk. Jaina was here, he had not confronted her since she had refused to watch him slay the villagers to keep them from becoming Malganis's slaves. He wasn't even sure she was still alive until today; he had expected her to be among the victims of the burning legion's invasion. But no, Jaina Proudmoore lived on, and she was now here for the sole purpose of opposing him.

Did she know he had killed his father, Muradin, Uther, Antonidas? Did she know he had ascended from first death knight of the lich king to fusing with Ner'zhul himself? How would she look at him now that he had become the undead leader of the scourge?

Would she forgive him, certainly not and why would he care, had he not damned everything he cared about in order to get where he was. Everything but that. He had always expected he could make up with Jaina after his return from Northrend, make her see that it had to be done, but that was before he became the lich king's servant. Now he knew he was beyond redemption, he had become a monster, a monster Jaina would never love.

That made the issue of their meeting clear; one of them would not walk away from it. Would he have the courage to kill Jaina, would he be able to feed her soul to Frostmourne? Of course he would, he had kill father, friends, mentors and innocents by the hundredth and committed unspeakable atrocities. What would one more murder be? But then, why was he asking himself all those questions in the first place, could there still be room for Jaina in his long frozen heart?

"You do not require sleep, dead one, but if you did, it would be quite troubled, would it not?" Naraku asked after what seemed like hours of introspection.

"Nothing troubles me, I was merely…thinking."

"About the woman who is here to oppose you, were you not?"

"You dare claim insight on my thoughts?" the Lich king replied, frustrated that the demon could see trough him so clearly.

"It was rather easy to deduce, seeing how you reacted when Luthor announced her name, and when Kerrigan taunted you…I will guess that even damned as you seem to be, your once human heart still yearns for that woman, am I wrong?"

"You seem like you talk from experience."

"I was once mortal Arthas, a foul, despicable mortal guilty of enough crime to damn my souls trice. One day however, I was horribly burned after betraying one of my allies. After the burns made me incapacitated beyond being able to move, only one person would care for my dying husk of a body, a young priestess named Kikyo."

"She would care for you, did she knew what a horrible man you were?"

"She did, but could not bear to let me whiter and die, the soft hearted fool. Anyway, after some time, the situation frustrated me, I wanted to have this priestess as my woman, but I was crippled beyond healing, so I did what made me what I am today. I offered my body to demons, so that they would feast on it and create a new one for my soul to inhabit. But it didn't went that way, the man I talked to you about, Onigumo the thief who desired Kikyo was sealed away, only I remained, the demon Naraku. After I was born from Onigumo's lust, frustration and greed, I mounted Kikyo against her lover, the half demon Inuyasha and tried to steal the sacred relic she was suppose to guard, but I failed when she had the jewel burned in her funeral pyre…

But I am straying. You see, fifty years later, Kikyo was resurrected and it was then that I discovered that a part of Onigumo's soul still lingers within me…and that it still bears its twisted love for the priestess. Thus, I Naraku, am powerless to harm the clay husk that is the reanimated Kikyo, all because I am prey to the human I once was. Somehow I feel your case is similar, death knight."

"Quite a strange story, so you are a demon then…Well no, Naraku, our stories are not so similar. I was once a champion of light, a paladin, and Jaina was indeed the woman I loved, although I was also prince of my kingdom and thus, we were always unable to be together. The last time I saw her was before I massacred hundreds of villager for what I though was a noble cause. I know now that I was being manipulated by the lich king of the time in order to turn me away from my kingdom and the path of light in order to become his champion. It has been many years since I've seen or even heard of her, I have become so much more now… yet the though of killing her stills brings much torment to me."

"You are right, there is a major difference between us Arthas, you have the power to kill this Jaina, and you simply hesitate to use it. If the inhuman creature you have become still desire this woman, do you not have the power to make her yours?"

"What foul course of action are you suggesting?"

"If you were once yourself a champion of light but was coerced into serving and ultimately becoming the Lich King, do you not now wield the power to do the same to Jaina? If ending her life is so painful to you, why not make it eternal by your side?"

"I had not seen things this way…you have given me much to think about, demon. Now be quiet, if not physically, I still require rest."

And both demon and death knight went silent although neither was sleeping. A satisfied smirk could be seen on Naraku's face.


	2. calm before the storm

AN: Well, faithful to my habit, it took me forever to even think of updating this story, that being said (-insert lame excuses-) enjoy the sequel.

Considering the situation, the first night was rather calm and uneventful at the good guy's HQ. That, at least, is what most of them though as they slept more or less soundly in their separate quarters.

But one of them was particularly restless and quite unwilling to sleep the night away. Inuyasha strode through the metal hallway leading to the exit, armed and ready to settle this quickly. The others had explained him that both bases were protected by some sort of impenetrable energy barrier, but he wasn't impressed, the red Tessaiga could pierce any barrier, it would pierce this one. Naraku had managed to escape him in the past trough careful planning, several henchmen and a large part of the shikon jewel, and now he had none of this, if he could get to him quickly, the demon would be at his mercy.

He reached the large metallic double doors and attempted to open them, but he lacked the strength and the proper grip to do so, as neither had handles or any kind of handhold. On the wall next to them was a small wall mounted machine he had seen once in Kagome's era, she had told him it was a computer. He needed to press the right buttons to make the door open…but he had no idea which one it could be.

A raspy voice from behind made him jump and bring his hand to his sword: "Not to familiar with modern technology, are you?"

The half demon turned back to find himself face to face with the dark figure known as Batman, standing in the middle of the corridor, enveloped in his cape and staring at him eerily. Inuyasha wondered how he could have sneaked behind him without him catching his scent, but remembered that most people in this so called team had some sort of special power, better not give it too much though, that guy was on his side after all…creepy as he might be.

"Even if you had any clue how to operate it, I programmed it not to allow anyone to leave without imputing the proper password, I though someone might not be much of a team player and decide to take on all twelve of our opponents by him or herself. Seems I was right, was I not?" he continued before the half demon could add anything.

These word infuriated Inuyasha: "Where I go and what I do is none of your business! I didn't ask to be part of this little team here and I'll make sure this whole mess is short lived, I'll go get Naraku and the rest of them and wipe them all out in a single strike, end of story!"

"A fool's claim, supposing you can break through the barrier that protects their base with your sword, which is very unlikely since it's partly technological in origin, you will find yourself faced with twelve terribly strong opponent, one of which as already proven craftier and more powerful than you several time in the past…" Batman continued.

"You don't know what you're talking about, now shut the help up and give me the password or I'll…" as he said this, Inuyasha leapt forward to grab the dark man by the collar…

But Batman ducked under the half demon's incoming hand, grabbed him by the collar of his kimono and used a judo technique to hurl Inuyasha forward using his own momentum, sending him tumbling to the ground effortlessly.

"You'll what, kid? Beat it out of me?" Batman asked, without any mockery meant in his voice.

"Damn you…" Inuyasha growled as he got back to his feet…

"If you go out there alone, you will get killed, if you get killed, we will be at a serious disadvantage, first because we would be outnumbered, second because only you have concrete knowledge of how Naraku fights and operates and third because your "backlash wave" technique could very well be our best chance against several of our opponents." The dark knight explained.

"How do you know about the backlash wave? How would you know anything about me anyway?" The half demon asked, irritated, but deciding not to attack Batman again for now.

"The computers in this complex contain extensive information about all twelve of us, the most personal and secret ones are heavily encrypted, though not heavily enough for me. Their info on ours opponents is scarce however. And that's why I can't have anyone rushing headlong, because I have to assume he or she would gets slaughtered, which is unacceptable" Batman explained.

"I don't need you looking after me; I can take care of myself!" Inuyasha replied angrily.

"That's good, but if we want to win this thing, taking care of yourself won't be enough. We will need to work together, there are some master schemers on the other side and it is very likely they will team up, if only as an alliance of convenience, to take us all out." Batman explained.

Inuyasha clenched his fist in frustration, as much as he wanted to take out Naraku, he had to admit the caped man was right, using others to reach his own end was Naraku's specialty, it would most likely use the eleven other villain to his own advantage…

"Hmph…fine, guess you're right… By the way, who put you in charge?" The half demon asked bitterly.

"I'm not "in charge" merely making sure no one does something stupid if I can help it." Batman replied.

"Whatever…" Inuyasha said, turning away and heading for his room, frustrated by his encounter with the dark knight. "By the way, I'm no kid, I'm nearly 200 years old!" he added before turning the corner.

"Good for you." Batman said out loud after he left, heading for his own room.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown to both of them, two other heroes were restless. Rogue entered what seemed like a communal dining room, except she hadn't seen anything remotely looking like a kitchen nearby. It seemed instead that machines on the side of the walls dispensed food when asked, kind of like those things in sci-fi series.

"Ok…this is weird…chocolate ice cream." She told the machine.

And out of thin air, a bowl of chocolate ice cream appeared in the machine.

"That, at least, is convenient." She said for herself, having not heard the other person who had entered the room shortly after her.

"Can't sleep either?" Jaina Proudmoore asked.

"I'm surprised anyone could." Rogue admitted.

Jaina sat in front of the teen mutant.

"I mean, I'm used to weird stuff, being a mutant and all, but being teleported here with you guys who all seem like big shots where you're from, suppose to take on a bunch of incarnation of evil, and now machines that make food appear out of nowhere, none of this makes sense." Rogue started ranting.

"Actually making food appear is not such a big deal, it's a simple trick really…" Jaina said as she uttered a magical formula to summon some water. A gourd of pure water appeared in her hand.

"Girl, how'd'ya do that?" Rogue asked in shock

"Magic…" Jaina answered, surprised at this overreaction "…Never seen this before?"

"Matter of fact no, I haven't, I've seen mutant powers that look a lot like magic, but you're telling me this is the real deal?"

"No one practices magic in your world?" Jaina asked, curious as to how it was possible that anyone could not know about magic, it was one of the fundamental forces of her universe after all.

"Nobody I know…" she answered.

"Well, I guess we come from very different places, I don't recall ever hearing of mutants myself. Well yes, we use the term but it's usually for something bad, such as when a creature becomes monstrous and deformed by exposure to magic, which clearly isn't your case…"

"Well, mutants are human who, through evolution, developed unique special abilities. It's different for everyone, but the powers all come from the same gene, sometime it makes you able to heal quickly, or control the weather, and sometime it does change your appearance, one of my friends is blue and hairy because of his mutation. Normal people hate us, they think we're freak and accident of nature and that we're too dangerous to let go free." Rogue explained.

"I see, and what can you do?" Jaina asked.

"Very little, people don't change their mind quickly, but we do what we can, me and a bunch of other mutant banded together in a group called the X-men and try to bring some sort of peace between human and mutants, not easy to do since a good lot of other mutants are fine with waging war on them and thinking themselves their genetic superior…" Rogue explained.

"No I mean, what can you do, as a mutant, what's your special ability?"

"Oh…"

She removed her glove and looked at her hand.

"My "gift" is pretty much a curse, when I touch someone's skin directly I absorb his life-force, a part of his memory and personality, and some of his abilities as well. With other mutants, it's generally their powers. Thing is, I can't turn it off, so touching me for an extended period of time can be fatal, not to mention that I generally can't control the new power." She said sadly.

"I'm…sorry." Jaina said, touched by Rogue's situation.

"You and so many others, ain't much that can be done about it, but what about you, how come you can do magic?" the mutant answered.

"Years and years of practice, though I did have an innate talent at first. In Azeroth, that's how my world is called, magic is rather common. I studied in Dalaran, an entire city dedicated to arcane practice and quickly became one of the most powerful archmage in the realm. Magicians are a little distrusted by other humans because it's a well known fact that magic corrupts. Having too much power at your disposal quickly makes you prideful and callous if your mind is not strong enough to cope with it; it was the downfall of many of the greatest wizards in our history. I'm one of the few mages who reached this level of power and still kept her feet on the ground, still, common folk tend to distrust magic, can't really blame them." Jaina explained.

"Guess power, whatever the form, corrupts. Professor Xavier, my teacher, says that people fear what they don't understand, and that this is the reason for most case of discrimination in the world." Rogue said, smiling.

"Your teacher was wise indeed; I've seen countless examples of this in Azeroth." Jaina added.

By then, Rogue's ice cream bowl was empty.

"Yeah, Xavier's been great; he helped me and the other kids a lot…Makes you wonder why I was picked to be here, so many other people where I'm from are stronger, or anyway more "heroic" than me…" the young mutant pouted, resting her chin on her hands, elbows on the table.

"I've been asking myself the same thing, sure I'm a powerful sorceress, but as far as forces of good go my world as much more to offer. I've come to the conclusion that it's because we are the one most closely associated with the villain on the other side…" Jaina said, her voices drifting to a whisper, as she turned hers eyes away.

"That…would make sense, Mystique was my foster mother and she did cause a lot of trouble to me, I'm surprised they'd consider her a force of evil though, selfish and manipulative yes, but not really evil…not that I know. But if you came to that conclusion, what is your connection to this lich king guy?" Rogue asked.

Jaina smiled sheepishly.

"We use to be lovers…" she admitted.

"We ARE talking about the same guy right? Corpselike skin, white hairs, glowing blue eyes, clad in really scary armor?"

"He wasn't always like this…there was a time where Arthas was Prince of his kingdom, and I guess you could say I was princess of mine, and we were together for a while, put life pulled us both apart, he wanted to become a paladin and me a wizard, both profession that require dedicated study, so we decided it was better to focus on our calling rather than our relationship. A few years later we were both assigned to look into a strange plague that turned the people of his kingdom into undeads." Jaina told her story.

"Undeads, as in zombies?" Rogue asked, disgusted.

"Zombies, skeletons, ghosts, liches, name them, the scourge, the group of undead that had sent this plague, have them all. They were all controlled by a very powerful creature called the lich king, who set in motion a plan to drive Arthas insane, turn him against his fellow humans and ultimately come to merge with him, giving birth to the creature you saw earlier. He was still human last I saw him, but he was already starting to turn insane, I left for the sea to escape the ravage of the scourge and only heard rumors of what had happened: Arthas pursed an agent of the lich king to the frozen north where it resided, he sacrificed his soul in the name of vengeance, became a deathknight, came back to his kingdom, murdered his father the king, destroyed the elven kingdom of Quel'thalas and then Dalaran, killing my mentor Antonidas. Later on, he traveled back to the lich king, this time to merge with him…I never confronted him as a deathknight and neither now that he's become the lich king, I don't know what to expect." She concluded.

"Wow, and I though things were bad in my world…But hey, there's still a chance there's some good left in him right? If he's being manipulated by this lich king thing, perhaps he's still his old self deep down." Rogue said, trying to cheer her.

"I prefer not to cling to such a hollow hope, he's committed several atrocities even when he was still partly himself, he's the enemy now, and he's too powerful for me to take lightly…" Jaina said, gathering her resolve.

"If ya say so girl…" Rogue answered, interrupted by her own yawning "…Woah, guess I was more tired than I though…"

"We should both get some rest, who know what we can expect tomorrow." Jaina added.

"Right…" she stood up "Nights miss Proudmoore."

"It's Jaina, please." The sorceress answered.

"Ok, Jaina" Rogue said before going through the door.

Jaina stayed in the dining room for a little while longer, pondering what she had just learned. All these people came from different places, but they shared more than she expected. They would prevail, together, now she felt sure of it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, at the bad guy's base, four people were meeting in a large room, a lounge with a great window opening on the desolated world they had been transported to. This room was an extension of Lex Luthor's personnal bedroom, which door's was to the far end of it.

He had invited three of his fellow villains to meet him here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, despite the strangeness of our situation, I'm glad to see some of us understand the value of sophistication." He said, raising his cup of wine to the other villains.

"I assume you asked us here for another reason than share a drink, haven't you Luthor?" The scarecrow asked, removing his mask to drink from his glass, revealing his thin features and unkept red hairs.

"Or maybe you feel like having a moment with the most "human" members of our little groups" Mystique added from the couch she was sitting on.

"Doubtful, I don't think I would be here otherwise…no this is about strategy, isn't it Lex?" Kerrigan added from a dark corner of the room.

"Quite perceptive of you, this is precisely the reason I wanted to speak with you people. We are in a precarious situation here, if we are to ever leave this strange world, we must crush all opposition from the so called heroes out there…" Luthor explained.

"And you're afraid we can't?" Scarecrow asked.

"I have no doubt that our combined genius and power is more than enough, unfortunately I fear we would lack a crucial advantage our opponents have on us." He continued.

"Cooperation." Kerrigan stated, smiling slyly.

"Indeed, you might have notice that we have some less than sane elements among our number, as well as creature's whose though patterns differ greatly from one another, not to mention quite oversized egos…" Lex continued.

"You're afraid we'll destroy each other from within." Mystique concluded.

"It is a distinct possibility." Kerrigan added.

"This is why I believe us, the smarter and more level headed members of this little association should work together, to keep this misfit alliance under control, and direct its resources more effectively." Luthor concluded.

"A fine plan, but while I agree we are more fit to call the shots then the other, we also happen to be among the weakest, physically that is. I doubt my fear gas puts me on any even footing with Naraku, Arthas, or Zhyzack. I also doubt they will just shut up and follow." Scarecrow said.

"True enough, but power is not the only way to rule, let them "think" they are in control while we pull the strings from behind…" Mystique suggested.

"You two also seem to be greatly underestimating the power of our charming colleague here…" Luthor said, gesturing at Kerrigan.

"Why thank you Lex, I see what you have in mind, and I like it, you want me to keep the weakest minded of our allies, namely Zyzack, Ridley, Kefka and Carnage with my mental powers…" she said. Lex Luthor nodded.

"While Mystique, scarecrow and yourself use wits and deception to keep the others happy enough to keep working effectively." She concluded.

"You read my mind." Luthor approved, smiling.

"Quite literally in fact." She added.

"Well then, let this be settled, from now on the four of us shall keep this group working, and report only to each other in doing so, can I count on each of you?" Luthor asked.

"I'm in." Scarecrow said, smiling widely.

"Then so am I." Mystique added, turning to scarecrow and winking.

"You three, of all people here, certainly would make the best allies; I will help you in your little scheme, Lex, but don't go thinking this gives you right to order me around." Kerrigan said, turning a wicked smile to the bald man.

"I wouldn't dream of it…" Lex assured.

The four villains parted on this, going to take some well deserved rest, they would need it…

…Because the next morning marked the beginning of the hostilities.


	3. First blood

Peter Parker landed on the side of the cliff, letting go of his web line, and surveyed his surrounding once more.

"Still nothing, are you really sure there are bad guys around?" He asked the small girl piggybacking along the mountain range with him.

"I sense an evil presence carried by the wind between the mountains, some of them must be around…" Talim assured him once more.

"Just how reliable is that "sensing evil presence thing" of yours anyway? We've been swinging through these mountains for an hour now and still no trace of them…"

"My senses have never failed me before, perhaps you'd have an easier time spotting something if you didn't have that mask on…why do you have a mask on anyway?" the priestess asked.

Spiderman shot another web line on a nearby mountain side and swung both of them to a flat plateau.

"Never heard of secret identity?" he asked.

"Why would you want to keep your identity secret? Are you not proud of who you are?" Talim wondered.

"Oh, yeah, sure, I'm mighty proud of what I do, thing is, not everyone where am from appreciate it. Many people don't like me because they think I'm as dangerous as the criminal I fight, and I figure if all those enemies I made while being Spiderman knew who I really was, they'd target my friends and family to get to me, so when I use my power openly, I wear this suit and work under the alias Spiderman." Peter explained.

"I think I understand…but why still wear the mask here? All of us come from different worlds; they can never use this knowledge against you…well, except this Carnage creature…"

"You're right, but now that you mention it, Carnage already knows I'm Peter Parker anyway." He took off his mask "I guess I won't need it." He concluded, shrugging.

"You look much better without it." She added, nodding.

"Why thank you…" he was about to add something but Talim reached for her elbow blades and crouched into a combat stance, turning away from him.

"It's getting closer." She stated.

Peter tensed himself, reading to leap at the first sigh of danger. He looked around; looking for what Talim was sensing but could see nothing.

"You sure, I don't see of hear anything…" he told her.

"Neither do I, but it's very close, the very air around us reeks with an evil taint, it must be close, only concealed to our senses." She said, spinning her weapons around nervously.

Not to all their senses it seemed, Spiderman felt the distinct tingle of his spidersense alerting him of danger, coming from above. He reacted within a fraction of a second, grabbing Talim's arm and shooting a web line on the cliff wall with the other, he pulled both of them toward the wall and away from…well he didn't know away from what but he knew it was bad.

Just as he hit the wall, sticking both feet and his hand on it (the other still being use to carry the surprised priestess), a splatter of sticky looking green sludge came falling from atop the cliff and onto the spot where they stood a second before. Spiderman and Talim looked up the cliff, looking for what had thrown this disgusting substance. Talim saw nothing, but felt clearly that the evil wind flowed from down the cliff.

Peter saw the blurry outline of something hung to the wall above them, a humanoid figure with what seemed like bony wings sprouting from its back. This could be two of the creatures he'd seen on the computer files, but it was too large to be Ridley…

"Sarah Kerrigan I presume!" he shouted out.

The blurry form leapt from the cliff and toward him. He pushed Talim, who was still confused as to what was happening, away from him and jumped off the wall. Four claw marks chipped the stone where he once stood as the blur fell upon it.

"That's Queen of blades to the likes of you!" he heard a deep woman voice say.

The blur turned into a tall woman with green skin, hair like spikes and the bone frame of membranous wings sprouting from her back, wearing chitinous body armor. A cruel smile played on her black lips and her yellow eyes where on Peter.

"Lady, I've heard lousy super villain names in my career, a lot of them in fact and I must say…" Spiderman started, taking a relaxed pose with his hand on his hip.

Kerrigan charged him and tried to impale him with the bone on her back, he crouched down under the blow and swept his legs to trip her, but she jumped away.

"Hey now, don't get mad, let me finish, I was about to say that "Queen of Blades" actually sounds good, it's regal, it's intimidating, it rolls on the tongue…" the superhero added, still on the ground. He raised his wrist and shot two web lines that stuck to kerrigan's stomach. He used those to pull her back to him, back flipping from the ground to hit her chin with both his feet, landing a few feet away while she was launched upward.

"…It's great really, much better than, say, "the green goblin" or "the shocker" well, "the shocker" isn't that bad except that the guy doesn't even use electricity, name isn't iconic, know what I mean."

Kerrigan landed to the ground in a crouch, infuriated. The skin on her chin was entirely black, probably because she was wounded, but was already turning back to dark green.

Talim had been waiting for an opening to join the fray and judged that this should be it, but just as she was about to attack, she felt arms wrap around her, pinning her arms on the side.

"You should pay more attention little girl…" a bone chilling voice said in her ear. Talim looked down to see the two thin arms holding her, than back up to see the masked face resting on her shoulder, that of a scarecrow wearing a hat. Her opponent wasn't very big, but neither was she, and she kicked furiously but was unable to escape his clutches. She cursed herself for having been caught by surprise; the oppressive evil aura from the woman had completely masked that of the costumed man.

Spiderman had also been paying too much attention to Kerrigan to see the Scarecrow coming, but as soon as he saw him, he raised his arm to launch some web in his direction. Just as he did so he heard the Queen of blade's voice sneer: "Pay attention, boy!" he felt his spidersense tingle.

Then, before he could react, he was struck by bluish lighting bolts from Kerrigan's fingertip, which sent him back tumbling to the ground, bringing him close to the side of the plateau, to the edge of a deep chasm.

"Good timing Crane." Kerrigan commented.

As an answer, Scarecrow grinned sadistically, raising his fist near Talim's face and shouting a good dose of fear gas in her face.

"Now what's the little girl afraid of? The dark maybe, of perhaps small insects, like spiders, now wouldn't that be ironic…" he cackled as he released Talim, who cough a little before turning back and trying to hit Jonathan Crane with her elbow blades, but the madman dodge easily as the fear gas quickly took hold of her. The sky disappeared above her and wall rose around to imprison her. The stone prison's wall drew closer and closer, giving her less and less space to move. Talim could not bear it; she was a lover of open space where she could feel the flow of the wind, to read its omen as only a wind priestess could. She had always been terrified of closed space, to the point of panicking, as she did now, curling unto herself as the wall drew ever closer.

From outside, Spideman could see that nothing was physically happening to Talim, she was curled up on the floor, mumbling something that sounded like "let me out". However, he had more pressing matter on his mind, as both Kerrigan and Scarecrow walked toward him. He rose to the ground quickly, ready to fight them both.

"Not in the mood for wisecracking anymore?" the zerg queen taunted as she advanced.

"What'd you do to Talim Crane?" Peter asked.

"Oh, only gave her a little taste of my fear gas, she's hallucinating her greatest fear right now…claustrophobia it would seem. A pity I used such a massive dose however, she'll probably be dead in less than an hour, that or she'll turn insane, the effect vary from a person to another…" the Scarecrow taunted.

Spiderman knew what he had to do, get Talim back to base without delay; he could fight these two another day. He jumped in the air above them, only to hear Kerrigan's voice in his mind: "Not so fast, Peter, you don't get to ignore us…"

His spidersense warned him of the danger, but he was already in midair and couldn't avoid the splash of green sludge that was shot from Kerrigan's wrist (in much the same way his webbing did). The substance snared him to the floor, engulfing him in its sticky mass.

"This is disgusting, you actually secrete that stuff from your body?" he said, trying to get free.

"Now…let's see what the spiderman is afraid of…" the Scarecrow said, moving toward the trapped hero.

Peter however had managed to free his hands and had a plan, as soon as Crane would be close enough, he'd cramped his gas shooters with webbing so they'd explode in his face and spray him with his own gas.

Of course, you can't get much of a surprise effect when the other team as a telepath, Kerrigan scoffed at this plan as it formed into Spiderman's mind and raised her hand to strike him with another psionic lighting bolt. She was stopped by a sharp pain in her stomach.

While the rest had been fighting, Talim had managed to clear her mind slightly. She had closed her eyes and focused on the flow of the wind; she had done so to find a way out of the ever shrinking closed space, but instead had found out that she still felt the wind as if she was standing in the open. With great effort she had opened her eyes and seen past the illusions, to her troubled partner. She grabbed her blades and rushed a surprised Kerrigan, sticking both weapons in the Queen of blade's midsection.

Kerrigan couldn't get a clear read on Talim's toughs, confused as they were by scarecrow's toxin. She watched the glass eyed teenager shacking as she drew her blades out of the bleeding wounds, steeping back and once again grabbing her head, the toxin taking hold of her again. Kerrigan slapped her across the face, sending her tumbling to the ground, but this distraction had kept her from saving Crane.

As soon as the Scarecrow had raised his hands to spray the toxin, Spidey had raised his to clog them, causing the explosion of the gas tank, sending Crane stepping backward under the effect of his own poison. Spiderman then shot webs on the cliff wall and pulled himself out of the green sludge, reaching the wall and using it as a stepping stone to launch himself downward toward Kerrigan.

The Queen of blades heard Peter Parker's thoughts as he was inches away from striking her, but she never saw him hit her. She only felt his two feet strike the side of her head, sending her rolling over the chasm. She grabbed the ledge with one hand just before falling down, clutching her still wounded stomach with the other. Her enhanced body would easily heal this wound itself, and the strength in her arm was more than enough to support her own weight, but now she was at Spiderman's mercy, one swift kick and he would send her plunging to her doom. But his thoughts now were for his poisoned friend only. He was thinking about nothing else than getting the girl away from Kerrigan and the Scarecrow, though Jonathan Crane was little more than a gibbering mess right now.

When she managed to pull herself up the ledge, both heroes were gone, only Crane remained. The queen of blades picked up the mad scientist and pulled a case of small vials from his pocket. She opened one and forced it down his throat, making him stop struggling and simply lose consciousness. She reached out with her mind, wondering if Spiderman was still in telepathic range, to her luck, he was.

"Run as fast as you want, the antidote is right here with me, it's the only thing that will save the priestess." She stated in his mind.

Peter wasn't sure he could defeat Kerrigan alone, and even if he could, he could very well imagine her crushing the antidote before he could get it to Talim, who was even now struggling to escape his grip as he was web swinging along the mountain range. In between two jumps, he pressed a button on a small device placed behind his ear. Instantly, a receiver deployed itself and tucked in his ear while a microphone extended to his mouth.

"This is Batman, come in." the raspy voice came from the receiver.

"Spidey here, me and Talim just ran into Kerrigan and the Scarecrow and he shot a massive dose of his gas at Talim. Can we synthesize an antidote within less than an hour?" he asked hastily.

"If it's his regular toxin, I know the process to create the antidote, I'll get to it right now, how fast can you be here?" Batman answered.

"Under optimal circumstances and assuming I don't run out of webbing, an hour and a half…" Peter admitted, remembering that it took him and Talim almost and hour on foot to get to the mountain range and they had been swinging into them for another hour.

"Too slow, I'll send Jaina to extract you, find a flat surface so she can get a lock on you." He said.

"Hum, what do you mean "extract us"?" Spiderman asked while landing on a flat ledge.

Before Batman answered, the sorceress Jaina Proudmoore materialized before him, offering her hand.

"Hurry, Bruce says her condition is very serious." The young sorceress pleaded. Indeed, Talim was now clutching Spiderman's costume while curling up against him, shaking and gibbering incoherently. Spiderman took Jaina's hand and a magical circle appeared under their feet. Seconds later, all three of them vanished.

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Far away from there, two villains were soaring through the sky above a rocky desert and under a blazing sun. Neither of them was particularly happy with it. After being allowed to beat one another up in the morning, Zhyzhak and Ridley had been "convinced" to go together in what Kefka had insisted on calling "hero hunting". Both were used to calling the shots, and thus were very unhappy to be ordered around by those they considered weaker, but those they disagreed with were more numerous and they were and unlike them seemed to somewhat agree.

And so, after letting them spar for several minutes, a fight which neither of them won since the werewolf's claw could not pierce the space's pirate armor plating and any wound he managed to inflict on her regenerated quickly, they had called it a draw and forced them to go out on patrol together to "learn to work with one another". Reluctantly, and because they suspected their fellow villain would use either violence or mind control to enforce their collective decision, the two of them had agreed to this task.

"FLY HIGHER YOU MORON, WE'LL SEE FROM FARTHER AWAY AND BE DONE WITH IT!" the werewolf screamed. She was riding on the space pirate's back, her legs tucked behind his wings and her arm clutching on his shoulders to keep steady.

"Do you HAVE to scream? The enemy will hear you coming from a mile away!" Ridley snapped back, annoyed.

"WHO CARES, WE'RE A BLACK AND YELLOW STAIN IN A BLUE SKY, SCREW THE STEALTH APROACH!" she screamed.

"Ok, fine, you're right. Then do it to spare my ears and I'll take us higher, how's that?" Ridley suggested.

"FINE!" was the very loud answer he got.

Looking forward to a moment without hearing the black spiral dancer's booming voice, Ridley gave a couple strong wing beat to gain altitude. He didn't mind the weight of the woman who, although she was much larger than an average member of her race, taller than even the huntress in full battle armor, was little of a burden to Ridley's formidable strength, but her incessant screaming was really getting on his nerves.

This moment was short lived however; a few minutes of gliding later something forced him to engage in conversation with his passenger again.

"My long range scanners are picking up activity, a single moving object, about the size of a big human coming our way at great speed." He informed her.

"OUR WAY?" she asked.

"It's flying." He added, cringing at hearing the screaming voice once more.

"THEN IT IS NOT KING ALBRECHT." She concluded.

"Nor Samus Aran, this promise to be a battle the likes of which we've ever experienced." Ridley stated.

"SCARED?" Zhyzhak inquired.

"Thrilled actually." He answered, his monstrous mouth twisting into a grin.

"ME TOO, C'MON, TAKE US TO THEM!" she ordered.

Ridley tensed his wings and dove toward what he calculated would be the point of collision with the incoming enemy. He no longer cared about Zhyzhak screaming or ordering around, he was thrilled by the incoming battled.

The target cam in visual range and by the way it was modifying its trajectory, it had spotted the two villains. Ridley decided to test his opponent by unleashing a salvo of heat seeking missiles.

The flying man engaged in evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit, stopping his charge toward them. Ridley could see now that it was indeed a large human, dressed in red and blue, but he wasn't alone, he was carrying a smaller human, a female, on his back. The girl was dressed in green and black suit and had her arm tightly wrapped around the man who was performing dangerous moves to avoid the missiles.

Ridley had memorized the files on the opposing heroes. The male was Superman and as such the missiles would most likely not hurt him much, he was most likely trying to protect his passenger, Rogue, from the blast. The space pirate charged them, with Zhyzhak on his back taking out her whip and spinning it above her head, ready to strike too.

At this moment, Superman looked down on the ground and unleashed two red beams from his eyes on the rocks downward. The missiles then all veered away from him to strike the heated rock on the ground below. He had escaped the missiles, but he didn't avoid the barbs of Zhyzhak's fetish whip as it slashed his chest, surprising him by actually shredding both his costume and his skin, causing a large bleeding wound where it struck. Next coming toward him was Ridley's open maw, lines with metal coated sharp teeth. This time however, the man of steel was ready; he clenched both hands together and smashed the side of Ridley's head with them as he came in reach, sending the space pirate and his garou passenger tumbling through the sky.

Superman took this opportunity to land and let Rogue get off his back. "Are you hurt?" he inquired to his smaller teammate.

"Am _I_ hurt? You're the one who's open from a shoulder to another!" she signaled, alarmed.

"I'm fine" he assured her "Her whip must be magic; it's one of the few things that can hurt me."

At this point, Ridley had recovered from the punch and he landed a couple of feet away from the hero duo, letting his own passenger disembark. The werewolf woman cracked her whip and growled at them.

"The winged one will probably try to shot us from above, if I don't engage him in the sky, think you can handle the woman yourself?" Superman asked.

"I'll try…she looks psychotic." Rogue said, unsure. Something about that woman was making her very uneasy.

"AH! Calling her psychotic is like calling the sun warm." Ridley cackled "Come on human; let the ladies have their battle while I tear you to shreds!" He launched himself up in the sky in a wing beat.

"I'll try to knock him out quickly and come down to help you." Superman told Rogue.

Rogue would have wanted to sound confident, to tell him she could handle herself, that it was no big deal, but looking at the mad eyes of her charging opponent: "Hurry…" was all Rogue could weakly utter.

Superman took flight after Ridley while Zhyzhak got within whip range of Rogue. The young mutant ducked under the weapon and rolled on the ground, remembering her danger room training. But as soon as she rose to her feet, she had to quickly sidestep another blow from the vicious weapon which struck the ground hard, sending chips of rock flying around. Rogue hated to think what it would do to flesh and bone if it could leave mark on the rocky ground.

Back in the sky Ridley opened up the fight with his kinetic breath weapon, a stream of pure force energy flowing from his mouth toward the man of steel. Superman took the blast full on, but it didn't hurt him, instead he flew against the energy torrent, forcing it aside as he made his way toward Ridley's mouth as a salmon fighting the current. As soon as he got in range, he punched Ridley hard across the face, putting an end to his attack and followed up with a downward punch on the space pirate's skull, sending him plunging toward the ground.

As he fell however, Ridley wrapped its tail around Superman's leg, bringing him down with him and pulling him toward his claws. Superman was quickly locked in close quarter combat with Ridley, the space pirate trying to bite his head off and claw him down with little success, while the man of steel was keeping both of them airborne.

On the ground things were going from bad to worse for rogue. She had managed to maneuver her way past Zhyzhak's whip strike and close enough to kick the oversized woman in the stomach. That reminded her of the time in training when she had tried that on Beast: it had no effect. Zhyzhak used her free hand to slap her hard across the face. So hard in fact that Rogue was sent tumbling to the ground, several feet away, clutching her face in pain. She couldn't believe it…the strength of this woman was inhuman. She vaguely remembered hearing about her being a werewolf but she though her human form would be more…well, human.

Zhyzhak left her no time to ponder the question she took fast steps toward her to finish her off. She was quite surprised when Rogue turned around on her back, raised her hand and started uttering words she did not understand. Bluish flow swirled around her hands and soon a blue bolt of energy came out of her fingertips and struck the black spiral dancer, freezing her entire body to the bone.

The pain enraged the werewolf, causing her to fly into frenzy and shed her human skin to turn into her monstrous wolf-woman crinos form, letting out a terrifying howl of rage. Rogue had had a uneasy feeling about Zhyzhak before but now she was struck in abject terror, not just of the fact that she was now facing a ten feet tall hairy killing machine, but the now she felt something extremely wrong and unnatural emanate from this monster, she could not explain it to herself, but all she could think of doing was crawling away from her in fear.

Superman saw, or rather heard the werewolf's transformation and knew his teammate was in trouble, big trouble. He pushed the space pirate away from him and caught his tail in his hands and he spun him around for momentum. Ridley was helpless to prevent this as the awesome strength of the man of steel was far greater than his own.

Back on the ground, Zhyzhak leapt forward, howling to claw Rogue to shreds, which she would have done had not the teenager vanished from under her. Before her rage hazed mind could figure out what had just happened, she was struck by something big coming from the sky at high speed: Ridley.

The two villains rolled together on the ground while Superman landed near Rogue who had reappeared a few feet away from where she had disappeared.

"How did you do that?" he asked, still watching the two villains as they pulled themselves together, well, Zhyzhak was pulling up, angrily at that, Ridley still looked a little stunned.

"Before we left, Jaina had me absorb a little of her energy and thus a little of her memory. She said magic is about training and understanding and that if we did this I might gradually learn it as well as she did. I managed to pull of only two spell so far…and I don't think I can do much more, I barely understand how I do it." She explained.

"Ok, stay back, the dragon's still stunned and the werewolf seems angry beyond reason, I should be able to take them both out quickly." He said as he charged Zhyzhak.

The black spiral dancer had also been charging toward them, whip spinning. Superman was too fast though and he seized the weapon before it could get enough momentum to hurt him and pulled it out of the werewolf's paw, throwing it away. He then proceeded to punch Zhyzhak's lupine head as hard as he could, and then hitting her again, and again…

By the fourth punch (which didn't seem to make her relent) she tried clawing back at him, but if her whip was a supernatural weapons, her claws where not. But she had other tricks…

Still possessed by her unholy rage, Zhyzhak spat out a large stream of balefire, the green flames of Malfeas, burning manifestation of the Wyrm's power and, of course, a purely magical phenomena as far as the man of steel's power was concerned. The fire struck Superman's shoulder, burning it gravely and inflicting incredible pain that tore cries of pain out of Superman's lungs. He pulled away, clutching his wounded shoulder but as he did, Zhyzhak changed…

Her skin became covered with scales under her hairy skin which in turn oozed a slick, foul smelling liquid, her claws and teeth extended into wicked blades and her eyes were now ablaze with the same unholy fire she had just spat out. She had invoked her most powerful gift; she had become the avatar of the Wyrm.

Having done that, she leapt at Superman's throat. The man of steel managed to keep the terrible fangs away from him by using his good arm to hold Zhyzhak's head away, but she furiously clawed at his back in answer, causing deep wounds and seriously threatening to kill the kyptonian.

But Rogue could not just standby and watch him be killed, she ran over to Zhyzhak, removing her glove as she did. Ridley too got back to his senses at this moment and saw what she had in mine; he unleashed his breath weapon upon her…

But once more, the young mutant vanished, only to reappear next to her target, she was in Zhyzhak's back and the werewolf was too busy to stop her. She slapped her naked hand against the monster's scaly hide.

Immediately she started leeching her life force away and taking it for her own. Zhyzhak weakened before Superman's eye, loosing her monstrous form to revert back to her human one, falling to her knees and then fainting.

Rogue however felt her body wracked with pain, every inch of it burned horribly as it started changing, she was growing, changing, and it was an unspeakable torture, but not as much as the pain she felt in her mind.

Flashes came to her, flashes from Zhyzhak's life…and everything she saw either terrified her, disgusted her to the point of vomiting or made her feel wounded down to her soul by its sheer _wrongness _unable to bear all of this she went with the one feeling she could find amiss such chaos that provided her some relief: the rage.

And so, when her body had completed it transformation into Crinos, Rogue's mind was wrapped in the primal anger of her new body, unable to tell friend from foe, she lashed out at Superman.

The man of steel was exhausted, but he might have still been able to contain Rogue, only the transformation has shredded the girl's clothing and thus the slightest contact with her and he would suffer the same fate as Zhyzhak, who was lucky not to get trampled by the newly transformed mutant when she rushed toward him. He had to find a way to knock her out quickly and get her out of here before…

Too late, Ridley had seen the opportunity and seized it; he had launched a bunch of missiles at the new werewolf. Superman escaped the furious assault of Rogue by flying up high and used his heat vision to take out all the missiles before they could hurt her. Then, he had an idea.

He dove toward the space pirate and caught his tail once more, if he couldn't strike at Rogue directly (he dared not think what she would do with Kryptonian strength and resilience pilling up on her werewolf powers.) but Ridley's body was covered with metals, he wouldn't have his energy absorbed.

Using the space pirate as a weapon once more, he struck Rogue with him, holding back so she would only be knocked unconscious. She tumbled away under the blow but struggled back to her feet. Enraged at being used as a flail again, Ridley launched yet another salvo of missiles at Rogue. Superman caught the furious space pirate's wings and pulled him forward, faster than his own missiles and turned him around to use as a shield for the mutant against his own missiles. All the missiles struck Ridley straight in his unprotected chest (at this moment the space pirate did wonder who was the idiot who designed battle armors with gaping holes near the most vital area…), all but one.

A missile had not been stop by Superman's strategy and had struck Rogue, exploding against her transformed body. When the smoke cleared, it was a back to human form, naked and seriously wounded Rogue who fell face first in the ground. Superman threw aside the now severely damaged space pirate and rushed to his teammate. Ridley fell to the ground in a loud crash, barely able to lift his own weight anymore.

Superman took of what was left of his cape, wrapped Rogue in it and took up flight. He turned around to watch Zhyzhak and Ridley, one unconscious, the other crippled, they were at his mercy. But he was also gravely wounded, and Rogue was worse so, he had no time for it, he was loosing quite a lot of blood and needed to get back to base as fast as possible.

After a few minutes of high speed flight, he felt himself weakening, he would not make it…he pressed on his earpiece: "This…is…Superman…come…get us…quickly."

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When he woke up, Superman was in a hospital bed in the good guy's infirmary. At his bedside were Bruce Wayne not wearing his mask (he knew that was Batman's real name), Jonas Albrecht and Terra.

"Rogue…is she…" he managed to say, still feeling a little fuzzy.

"Alive, yes. Fine, no." Batman said.

"Zhyzhack's memories are threatening to drive her insane, not surprising since the woman to who they belong is the most psychotically insane bitch I've ever met." Albrecht explained.

Superman turned his head to the left to see Rogue in another bed close to his, most of her wound seemed healed, but she was shifting violently as if in a sleep plagued with nightmares. The protoss Zeratul was leaning over her, his three digit hand close to her face, his eyes closed. Jaina Proudmoore was also at her side, along with Link.

"Or she was, if Rogue managed to absorb her powers it mean she's dead right, that how it works?" he inquired to Superman.

"No, I don't think she's dead, she was still breathing when Rogue was done, although unconscious, if nothing comes to finish her off I'm afraid this isn't the last we've seen of her…" he said.

The news seemed to strike the silver fang like a slap across the face, then his faced turned to anger: "What do you mean "if nothings come to finish her off"!? Didn't YOU do that?" he screamed.

"Please now…" Terra said "We have another patient resting." She added gesturing over another bed where Talim was sleeping soundly with tubes attached to her arm, Spiderman and Inuyasha watching over her.

"No, didn't have time…and beside, I don't kill people." He said flatly.

Batman nodded his head in approval, but Albrecht grabbed him by the collar of his suit, growing taller, more muscular and more hairy than before as he heaved him against the wall to Terra's protest.

"You…YOU DON'T KILL PEOPLE!? What the fuck do you think we're suppose to do out there, we're SUPPOSE to kill those assholes on the other side, don't you know what matter of MONSTER you spared today!" he raged, heedless to the crowd gathering around them, not one making a move to stop him.

Superman pushed him away, rather easily: "So in fighting them with must sink as low as they do?" he challenged him.

"DAMN FUCKING RIGH we must, what? You think this little game is gonna end after we prove we're stronger and just let them go with their lives? It's killed or be killed around here, am I the only one who gets that? Tell me SOMEONE else here understands we have to get lethal with the enemy, PLEASE!" he screamed, looking at the crowd angrily.

"Guy's got a point, it's not like they wouldn't do it for us, can't go around sparing them and hoping they'll give up." Inuyasha said "Their enemies, I say kill them and be done with it."

"Death is part of war, and we are at war right now. We cannot afford mercy for those who would give us none…or give it only to gloat at our shame and dishonor." The brooding dark templar's voice resonated in their head.

The room was silent for a moment.

"Mmm, just a quick survey, which of you here would kill is nemesis if given a chance." Spiderman asked, raising his hand, before this argument could escalate.

Most of the other in the room raised their hand, Batman and Superman didn't, and Jaina took some time to raise hers.

"Ok, who would kill someone else's nemesis given a chance?" he demanded, putting his own hand down.

Every other hand came down but that of Jonas and Inuyasha.

"WHAT? Come on, it's only me and Albrecht on this? You gotta be kidding me! These guys are evil, they're out to kill us, and they almost did it to Rogue and Talim. They're just…they're just kid damnit, do you think they cared? Do you think they told themselves it was wrong to beat them up and mess with their minds? NO they damn sure didn't, 'cause they're rotten to the core, every last one of them! Sparing them doesn't make you better than they are, it makes you weaker and it will get you killed!" Inuyasha raged at them, turning around for someone who might seem convinced by his speech, but finding only disapproval on all the faces but that of the garou king.

"Not that I care anyway, just don't expect me to do the same, or to save you from your own idiocy." He snapped, turning back and heading out of the room.

"He said it better than I could have myself." Albrecht said before going out as well.

The infirmary was silent once more. Superman got back to bed, not being fully recovered and Zeratul resumed his psychic treatment of Rogue's mind.

Batman looked at this and though it was looking bad. Unity was suppose to be their edge over their enemy, but it seem so many different people with so many different backgrounds could not be expected get agree on everything.

So far, two of three of their team member had been wounded, two of them would make full recoveries but the third was fighting for his sanity and to his knowledge there were no official casualties on the other side.

The first day could have gone better.


End file.
